by John R. Miller

President Obama and Secretary Clinton have both now visited Russia in an effort to "reset" relations. The latest such effort was followed by the kidnapping and murder last week of Natalya Estemirova, a human rights activist in the Chechnya region of Russia. Her organization, Memorial, condemned Premier Putin's appointee, Chechnya President Kadyrov. This killing followed a string of political murders of Putin critics, Soviet style, ranging from Chechnya, Moscow, and St. Petersburg to Strasbourg and London.

There was the brutal beating of Russian penal system critic Lev Ponomorov last April in Moscow. The murder of the President of the Russian rule of Law Institute Stanislov Markelov in January. The shooting near her home in St. Petersburg several years ago of Parliament member and human rights activist Galina Starovoytova and the assaults several years ago on a former state Duma member, Yulie Rybakova, a long time critic of both the Soviet and Putin regimes. The assassination of leading human rights journalist Anna Politskovskaya in Moscow last year. The poisoning of her friend Karinna Moskalenko, lawyer for Putin opponents Kasparov and Khodorkovsky, in Strasbourg, France. The poisoning of Russian secret service critic Alexander Litvinenko several years ago in London.

And these are just the most prominent cases. It is hard to put a number on the reporters, editors, lawyers and human rights activists that have paid dearly for their criticism of the regime.

Not since the days of Pinochet's Chile, another developed country that we sought to maintain good relations with, has there been such a string of political disappearances, murders, and beatings.

The Russian government and its apologists in the West have claimed that the victims have been associated with Chechyan terrorism--never mind that most of the killings were far from Chechnya. Or that the victims were just the victims of random hooliganism--never mind that none of the "hooligans" have been brought to justice. Or that it was just a plot by Putin's enemies at home and abroad to embarrass him--this last excuse brings to mind the explanations used by the former Soviet government when mysterious deaths occurred abroad. Sometimes we are told by Putin's defenders in Britain and the U.S. that at least under Putin, Russia does not have a totalitarian state as in Soviet days. True enough, but this defense only shows how far the hopes of democracy and the rule of law in Russia have receded.

One hopeful sign was that the recent killing, while greeted with silence by Putin and Russian law enforcement, was criticized by the new Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev, albeit while defending the Chechen President. Whether the new Russian President may initiate reforms or whether Putin and his appointees remain in control, the question of what to do faces the West. Generally, this has meant an inquiry or, as in the case of the London killing of Litvinenko, calling in diplomats for consultations, but then matters have been dropped. So eager has been the West to avoid confrontation with Russia that under President Bush--who has been criticized for being too harsh with Russia--human rights reports were shaded so as to avoid giving offense to the Putin regime. Under the Obama administration, all signs are that such a policy will continue. There is no evidence that even one of these human rights cases was raised in Moscow by either President Obama or Secretary Clinton.

It doesn't have to be this way. Yes, we need to negotiate with the Russians on nuclear weapons and missile defense. But this was also the case in the 80's when the U.S. negotiated with Putin's Soviet predecessors. But then Secretary of State Shultz still managed to press the Soviets privately and publicly on human rights issues, winning release of dissidents, encouraging movement toward respect for human rights and at the same time still negotiating broad nuclear agreements. What Secretary Shultz and President Reagan realized and what their successors have been reluctant to realize, is that nations make agreements based on self interest, not on whether the U.S. submerges its human rights ideals in diplosqueak. Speaking out for the rule of law in Russia will not only help past and future victims, it will encourage a more democratic and peaceful Russia which will be even more likely to enter into and keep meaningful international agreements.

John R. Miller is a former Member of Congress who served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, a former U.S. Ambassador at Large on Modern Slavery, and currently a Visiting Scholar, University of California, Berkeley and a Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute (Human Rights and Bioethics Center).